Love is a Verb

My family and close friends know that one of my favorite pastimes is asking questions.  Perhaps I should have been a FBI interrogator or something but since I’m not, I use my “skill” on anyone in my general vicinity.  My children, now well accustomed to me asking them questions, lovingly (I think) refer to those times as an interrogation.  Since love is generally considered to be the basis for forming marriages and romantic relationships I like to ask questions about it.  Not too long ago my question to one of my daughters was “what is love?” and I was excited by the answer.  Her response was; “love is a verb”.  The reason this excited me was that this is not one of those things that those closest to me remember due to my incessant repetition, I don’t go around saying “love is a verb” all the time, in fact I don’t remember whether I have ever said it.  In the context of the conversation I wanted to discuss what real Christ-like love is.  Our culture’s version or definition of love goes something like this;

·         A man declares his “love” for a young lady based on a feeling.

·         There is almost no obstacle that can shake their love, (not even wise concern from parents or other authorities). 

·         This love quickly becomes roam-ance when there is no unshakeable foundation defining the nature of the relationship.

Obviously I am a proponent that true Christ-like love be the foundation of any relationship, but especially romantic ones.  Love being a verb is that foundation.  As believers we are to follow Christ’s example in loving others, especially our bride, and if we are to truly follow that example we must do oh so much more than verbalize our love, it is a verb, an action word.  True love doesn’t sit around waiting for exciting feelings to occur.  It creates excitement in a relationship by what it does.  In fact, love without actions is suspect at best, deceit at worst.

Christ set the perfect example of this, by choosing us to be the recipient of his love, knowing full well that we have not nor ever will deserve His affections or His actions toward us.  His brand of love acted on our behalf.  In fact never was there more action in an act than in the Love displayed on the cross of Jesus.  How much do we really think about that when we are saying things like “till death do us part” and “for better or worse”?  For Christ, there is no “worse”, He will not get roam-antic no matter what.  He will never leave us.  His love acts.  It is a verb.

My thanks cannot come close to the gratitude I should have for this amazing truth.  Tragically, Christ’s love, His actions on our behalf are un-thinkable in a society where love is merely a feeling and subject to change.  But perhaps living the great commission is easier than we think?  Maybe the things we do (action) in our relationships speak the love exhibited by Christ without our having to utter a single word?  Or perhaps they do the opposite and lie about He who made love an action word.

 May God grant that our love is truly a verb!